Investigating the effect of antibacterial cerium oxide nanoparticles embedded in biodegradable PVA/chitosan films for wound healing application: an in-vitro study

A significant barrier to wound healing is microbial infection, which delays the wound healing process at different stages. In order to promote the wound healing process, suitable wound dressing materials are required with ideal characteristics. In this study, the effect of incorporating cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO₂ NPs) in chitosan (CS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films as a wound dressing material is prepared by solution casting technique. Various physicochemical characterizations were utilized for CeO₂ NPs and CeO₂ embedded PVA/CS films. The average particle size of 21.69 nm confirms the nano particle nature of prepared CeO₂ NPs. The strong interaction between CeO₂ nanoparticles and the PVA/CS blend was confirmed by FTIR analysis. SEM analysis showed uniform dispersion of nanoparticles within the polymer matrix. It is also observed that the surface roughness of the CeO₂ embedded film is found to increase with increase in nanoparticles concentration. Notably, the CeO₂ embedded film significantly reduced the contact angle from 99.5°±3.2 to 74.7°±4.1, indicating improved surface properties. The fabricated films exhibited a swelling percentage of 61.1% on the 7th day and better degradability, which is beneficial for absorbing wound transudation to expedite the healing efficacy. The better hemocompatibility, with erythrocyte percentages ranging from 1.3 to 3.1%, further supports the wound healing properties of these films. The in-vitro cytocompatibility of the polymer matrix demonstrated excellent cell viability toward fibroblast cells. The CeO₂ embedded films showed superior antibacterial activity against wound pathogens (E. coli and S. aureus) compared to the PVA/CS blend. Furthermore, an in-vitro wound healing assay using fibroblast cells (NIH 3T3) demonstrated an 88% wound closure rate after 48 h. Therefore, the obtained results imply that the prepared CeO₂ embedded films can be suitable candidates for antibacterial wound dressings in wound healing applications.